CASTLE ROCK, CO - MAY 6: Douglas County High School basketball coach Earl Boykins posed for a photo before an open gym practice Tuesday night, May 6, 2014. Boykins played in the NBA for several years including a stop in Denver with the Nuggets. (Photo by Karl Gehring/The Denver Post)

CASTLE ROCK, CO - MAY 6: Douglas County High School basketball coach Earl Boykins ran players through drills Tuesday night, May 6, 2014 during an open gym workout. Boykins played in the NBA including for the Denver Nuggets. (Photo by Karl Gehring/The Denver Post)

CASTLE ROCK — Three dozen boys basketball players are straining to impress their new coach on a recent Tuesday night. Sure, the next high school varsity game isn’t for six months, but at first it’s difficult to tell who’s more nervous.

Is it the young hopefuls at Douglas County High School in grades eight through 11 trying to make a good first impression? Or is it the coach, who’s running his first drills with a group he doesn’t really know?

After the opening minutes, it becomes obvious — former Nuggets guard Earl Boykins, embarking on his first head coaching gig, is in command.

His instruction begins with “Guys,” and ends with “OK?” As in, “Guys, catch the ball with two hands, OK?” “Guys, stop traveling, OK?” “Guys, stop talking when I’m talking, OK?”

The second-shortest player in NBA history (5-foot-5), Boykins nevertheless has a commanding presence. While watching the informal workout, he makes it clear he has a grand plan to turn around this struggling program.

“I love Colorado. It’s definitely home,” said Boykins, who starred at Cleveland’s Central Catholic High School and Eastern Michigan before playing parts of 13 seasons in the NBA, including with the Nuggets from 2003-07. “I always enjoyed teaching the game, and when this opportunity presented itself, I decided to take it.”

A year ago, he started the Boykins Basketball Academy, which operates out of the Denver Tech Center, and assisted coaching a club team. Now, he has the opportunity to run his own high school program, a job that opened when Jeff Riley stepped down.

“I was looking for the opportunity to be a head coach, and it didn’t matter which school,” he said.

Time to rebuild

It mattered for the Huskies, who were 3-20 this past season, 0-11 in the Class 5A Continental League. Douglas County’s last winning season was 2007-08, and it has won just 29 games since.

“He’s such a humble guy,” Huskies athletic director Jeff Gardella said of Boykins. “When he came into the interview, he was sweating bullets. I thought he was going to pass out. I was expecting some cocky guy. It showed this is not some publicity stunt. His goal is to be the best high school basketball coach in the state of Colorado.”

Boykins knows enough to know he will need help doing so.

“He called me the morning he accepted the job and asked if I would stay,” said Cory White, an eight-year Huskies assistant and former player and graduate in 2000. “I think it’s a great opportunity for these kids to learn from him.”

Boykins has never shied away from hard work, and he will need it — the Huskies have lost 110 games the past six seasons.

“I think the whole school and community are excited, the whole town of Castle Rock is excited,” Gardella said. “I expect him to do good things.”

Boykins is going to start by emphasizing fundamentals and conditioning.

“Today’s kids are much more athletic than when I was a kid,” he said. “But they don’t understand the fundamentals the same way. We need to play fundamentally sound, be in top condition and play the right way. We’ll play up-tempo, definitely. We’ll need conditioning in order to play the game and be at a certain level physically.”

Not just a typical ex-pro

Don’t underestimate what Boykins’ presence as a former pro could do to inspire high-schoolers. His best success in the NBA came with the Nuggets, when he averaged 12.1 points in the 255 games he played for them.

“Yes,” Gardella said, “but the funny thing is, I’m not one of those believers. I didn’t always think that pro guys automatically make good high school coaches. But when I was meeting with him and saw all of his references, they all told me he’s not your typical pro athlete.”

Huskies players know having a former NBA player as your coach is big on the street-cred meter.

“Everybody picks it up a little more around him. Everybody tries harder,” said C.J. Cetta, who will be a junior next season.

Douglas County district athletic director Derek Chaney said he thinks Boykins gives the program “instant credibility.”

It also helps that Boykins is young, 37, and not that far removed from his playing days, Chaney said, which should help him relate.

“I see him more like a coach than an NBA player, but I’ll learn a lot from him, definitely,” Cetta said.

That’s all Boykins, who eagerly awaits summer-league play, wants.

“There’s a time when you allow the kids to play the game,” Boykins said. “You have to allow kids to make mistakes. Allow them to play and have fun. It’s the only way to develop.”

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events of the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.

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